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Tag Archives: December

Happy time zones folks. Life likes throwing in surprises and spanners and that has led to me not posting here. Writing wise, I have been much more successful.

Save for any words I write today I am on 17,926 words for the year. My target for the end of this month (March) for the year was 7,500 words. Whilst it is good over all that I am nearly 10.5k ahead, it is even better with Camp NaNoWriMo starting tomorrow. It is looking the next month is going to be very busy for me so having a buffer that I can use is going to be very helpful. The buffer is intended for the end of the year but if I have to use some now, so be it.

Majority of what I have written in the last three months has been my FMC’s first week of school, meeting classmates, teachers and first lessons. Seems a lot of words to spend on it but I am also aware that this draft is an absolute plantser mess! I have accepted that. I am focused on getting it written, not getting it right. The next draft is for tightening up and getting the big picture stuff sorted. I have also written some stuff that happens a few months later in story time. It connects with what I had written in December.

When I have not been writing, my mind has been on world building, new ideas and solving certain issues that had come to mind. Particularly, my thoughts have been about certain secrets and possible plans for the future. I may actually write some of the future stuff now, if only to get the ideas out of my head. My focus though is on completing this draft though.

Plans for the next few months is to keep writing, keep pushing for one completed draft of this story. Right now, I am reconsider certain word counts. A certain life surprise means the original goals I had set are now unlikely or pushing it too far. Take next month for example. I had planned on getting 10,000 words written during Camp. That goal has had to be revised down to 5k to accommodate it whilst also giving me the push to keep writing despite it. In May and June, I have set a target of 2,500 words each. These goals are based on what I wrote last year. All things considered, I am leaving them as is for now. They are attainable and any extra words will add to the buffer.

How is your writing going at the moment? Planning to enter Camp next month or in July? Had any problems or is everything going well? Do comment below.

It’s been 5 days since NaNoWriMo finished and I have written just 590 words all together. I think it’s the post-NaNo Blues combined with life being very busy. I have written a little on my Camp story with the dark witch at school, re-read some of it to reacquaint myself with it and have started writing something that happens a few years later with the characters, taking some inspiration from the latest Lockwood & Co. novel, Hallow Boy.

I am just glad to be writing I think and it is going to be my main aim for this month I think, just to keep writing. I know I can be very tired in December so anything I do will just be a bonus at the moment. How are you getting on? Is December the hardest or easiest month for you to write in or somewhere in between? Do you have any aims for this week or month? Don’t be afraid to comment below.

This past monthly has mostly been exposition, introducing characters, classes, teachers, my FMC’s talents and abilities and a dozen more things which serve as background information and important elements to the stories. It doesn’t seem like much but it is all important I feel for the story, for myself to understand the story and it has pushed the story forward.

This past month has also taught me that if I want to do the 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo next month, I need to do more research and planning beforehand so I am not constantly stopping to look something up or figure something out. Sometimes, it has been necessary, such as figuring out how education, employment and training works in the world having aged up my characters. Other things, like forgetting character names at a write in this weekend and crashing into a wall because I needed to figure out the plot more, slowed me down and is the sort of thing I need to write down beforehand to keep me going. I am now getting on and past the plotting part but the point still stands. I needed to know this.

Granted this novel was started with little planning and on a whim because I didn’t like the previous story which I was writing for Camp and it still works for something that is more long-term but for a challenge like NaNo, plotting and world building needs to happen before it starts. So it is one of the things I will be doing this month in preparation for November which means the current novel will have to take a back seat for this and next month realistically if I want to finish the challenge.

I didn’t manage to finish my 10,000 word target for August but I have done the 10k for September and then some to keep me on track. This month, maybe a little ambitiously, the target for 25,000 in preparation for the 50k next month. I can give it ago at least and lower it if needed but I am hoping to use this month as not just a planning and prep for the story but also to get me hitting the higher word targets. It’s an idea at least.

Aims for this month are to keep going with the Camp story, write more and get 25,000, plan and prepare for November, both story and survival wise (I do have stuff going on in life after all) and to make sure I have a story to go back to after November to give me a break. After all, December is hard enough with Christmas and family and New Years to be dealing with a story that is in crisis.

How was your writing last month? Are you doing NaNoWriMo next month too and starting to prepare now? What are your plans this month? Don’t be afraid to comment below.